That'll be $5

First off... I've turned in my resignation at work. Amicable, cheery, etc. Oh, April is such a lovable gal. In some ways I feel like a this giant anvil has been pulled off my shoulders, but I also know it's the first step in quitting the STL altogether which is going to be a much harder departure. I took it as an omen that Columbus was the featured city in "The Look for Less" last night while I was cleaning my skates. Nothing is set in stone yet, but...

On the derby front, I went to a killer and I mean KILLER concert/party/free-for-all at the Skatium on Friday. The ARRG! Girls skated amongst tumbling drunks and bikes, in liners, zombie hunters, oh and Peat Henry. The bands were among STL's finest surf/rockabilly, shake your booty till it hurts set. Not to mention there were three sassy, talented burlesque dancers brave enough to take it all off (well almost all)in front of a salivating crowd whose pockets were full up of Stag and whiskey. Also I remembered how to have fun at a party. I've become so accustomed to hunkering down into a puddle of snarkfest with my friends, that I forgot how much fun I have floating around a room, skating a little here, dancing without abandon there, begging for booze from acquaintances up there. The most conversation necessary was a, "Yeah! This totally rocks" or "Your skirt is HOT!" which left me with little excuse for social sepuku the next morning. Hooray!

Due to the previous night's hijinks, however, I did forget/sleep through the first ARRG boxing lesson. Guess I'm not so tough as I thought...

Everyone (meaning Ryan and his parents) seems to think I'll duck out of the derby thing one I get hurt the first time. I beg to differ. Just when things start feeling boring, Coach Ken adds a little more brutality to the mix. Last night was something like "This week's biggest badass" which involved a handful of girls skating round and round trying to take each other out. Once you went down, you were out. Of course, since I jumped into the fray without heeding all directions I actually took two fantastic tumbles before I excused myself from the melee. My bum hurts, and I can't wait to do it again. Perhaps with more poise and success the next go `round. So much of derby for me is overcoming my natural fear of being within five feet of people. Most of this fear comes from my notorious clumsiness which has sometimes resulted in casualties (girl hit with golf club, girl got backstroke started into, girl got lap full of Coke), but of course derby is all about taking the other gal down, or slowing her up enough to get past. I love it! I'm trying to figure out what position(s) best suit my abilities: do I want skate in the pack and crunch the jammer as a blocker? or maybe claw my way through the pack as the jammer? or set the pace as the pivot (while also serving as last line of defense)? I'm really not certain what I'd be best at. Of course, once the Ohio thing happens, their league will probably decide for me as they're already organized into teams.
Also, my front wheel fell off at the end of practice, which was classic goofy April. But we'll not talk about that because it reveals my ineptitude with a socket wrench...